I am somewhat happy that cell phones do not work in subway tunnels--one of the few "yell-phone" free spaces in big cities still left.

However, I am not a Luddite--I do carry a cell, 24/7--and I recogize their value for emergencies. Foreseeing the inevitable, transit authorities should insist, as part of the contract to allow cell companies to string their antenna-wire in tunnels, that cell carriers also fund a real-time system so that cell users can check on system delays.

Passengers would be able to make informed decisions about where to transfer, or get out and switch to a bus, or simply walk! And since we would be able to use our cells, we could call ahead with a reasonable estimate of how late we might be.

In New York City at least, the train operator and conductor do not have this information, and if they did, they could not determine what to announce, not knowing which riders would need to know about which delays--we have hundreds of stations.

What do you think of this idea or comment?
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I disagree